Echoes of the Criminal Mind - Helping Writers Develop Intriguing Villains By Understanding the Criminal Mind

Echoes of the Criminal Mind is based on twenty-five years of observation within the prison system, and through various professional positions, including

President of the Michigan Council on Learning for Adults, board member for the Michigan Reading Association, and executive board member of the Michigan Association for

Adult and Continuing Learning. While in these positions, the author offered seminars and wrote articles on adult learning and correctional education. He also developed new programs for

correctional learning, which included an emphasis on the reentry of criminals into society.

Fictional villains, like real-life criminals, are colorful outliers when it comes to social adaptation and behavioral choices. How they view the world is outside of the norm

and puzzling to law-abiding citizens. However, understanding criminal perceptions and patterns of behavior can be of great value to writers. Exploring the nuances of how

your villains think and act, makes your book more interesting for your readers.

This book is designed primarily to assist you in creating characters for fictional stories. The relationship between thoughts and actions is a well-established foundation for

cognitive-behavioral therapy as documented by Beck & Beck, (2020). This theory offers behavioral clues which can be helpful to writers, especially in the area of character

development of villains. The ideas presented are the result of studying adult males in prison. Because of this, all examples used are of men, and all inmates/criminals are referred to as "he/him."

Most authors don't understand the criminal mind. Echoes of the Criminal Mind presents experience and research as a valuable tool for authors to create more realistic and authentic villains.

"It is my intention that the contents of this book and the methods presented here will facilitate your ability to get into the heads of your villains." Merle Davenport, MEd